Fried Eggplants with Honey

This is a dish that we tasted in Cordoba, in the South of Spain. It is served with a cold, tomato and bread puree, called Salmorejo. See recipe here which I shared last week.

The original version of the dish was sprinkled with poppy seeds. But since this is a banned ingredient in Singapore, I replicated the dish sans poppy seeds.

Here are the eggplants, served with Salmorejo, extra hard boiled eggs, chopped jamon and bread. Yummy!

Salmorejo (Spanish Tomato & Bread Puree)

Went on a family trip to Spain last month and it was wonderful and unforgettable! Still missing Spain up to now. :(  We were able to taste a variety of food, some of which are very similar or exactly the same as Filipino food, such as Cochinillo (suckling pig, which we Pinoys call lechon), Callos a la Madrileña (tripe and chorizo stew), paella, among many others. One dish which made a strong impression on us was a dish from Southern Spain called Salmorejo.

We visited Cordoba (the home of the famous religious and architectural wonder, the Mezquita), and Salmorejo is a dish that originated from there. It is a puree made from fresh tomatoes, bread, garlic, and sherry vinegar, and is served cold, perfect for the summer months and during our visit in August, the hottest month in Spain. Salmorejo is topped with chopped jamon serrano and hard boiled eggs and is eaten with warm bread.

We fell in love with this dish and I've replicated it here.

My homemade Salmorejo, served with chopped hard boiled eggs and jamon serrano.

Zucchini "Pasta" with Mushrooms, Tofu & Fresh Oregano

I made this dish a month ago, after our recent family vacation in Spain. It was really great, from a historical, cultural and gastronomical standpoint. We loved the food and could immediately identify with it, as there are many common dishes between Spanish and Filipino cuisine. However, we sorely missed vegetables! Aside from the potato and occasional eggplant, there was hardly any vegetables among the food that we ate in Spain. :( Our family likes to eat healthy and after almost two weeks of a delicious but meat intensive diet, it was time to purge and go back to simple vegetables.

Thus, the weekend after we came back, we experimented with making a fully vegetarian "pasta" made from zucchini "noodles," mushrooms, cubed tofu and fresh oregano.